Doha, Qatar, November 15, 2019 - Poland's Jedrzej Brozyniak and Piotr Janiak etched their names into the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour record book here Friday evening by capturing the gold medal at the Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup by defeating Petr Bakhnar and Yury Bogatov of Russia in the finals.
With the $5,000 Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup being the 462nd men's event in World Tour, Brozyniak and Janiak became only the 31st men’s team in the history of the FIVB circuit to capture the top spot on the podium after qualifying for the main draw.
Seeded 13th in the money rounds after winning two qualifying matches Tuesday, Brozyniak and Janiak posted a 2-1 (18-21, 21-15, 15-12) gold medal win in 44-minutes of the 10th-seeded Bakhnar and Bogatov. With the win, the Polish pair finished with a 7-0 Doha match mark and split $1,000 for first-place. Bakhnar and Bogatov shared $700 for placing second.
Friday’s finale was the third FIVB World Tour gold medal match between the two countries with Brozyniak and Janiak securing their country's first men's gold medal victory over a Russian pair. Russia's two gold medal wins over the Poles were in 2014 at Moscow and 2017 on Kish Island in Iran.
In the bronze medal match, David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig secured Sweden's first-ever men's medal in the 33-plus season history of the FIVB World Tour by defeating Nouh Al-Jalbubi/Mazin Alhashmi of Oman 2-1 (22-24, 21-12, 18-16) in a 48-minute third-place match. The Swedish teenagers are the reigning Youth Olympic champions.
David Ahman (left) and Jonatan Hellvig secure Sweden's first men's FIB World Tour medal.
With the completion of the Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup, Doha now prepares for the second FIVB World Tour event in Qatar on 2019-2020 FIVB World Tour calendar set for March 9-13, 2020 at the Al Gharrafa Beach Complex.